Race Against Time
by Flame girl 123
Summary: When John is bitten by a poisonous snake, while he and his team are on a mission to a strange rainforest planet, it is a race against time to find the antidote and save him.


It was supposed to be a simple mission, a 'check out the ancient ruins, and investigate the strange energy readings, Rodney had picked up,' kind of mission.

When the team opened the jumper's door, and stepped out, they were met with a humid atmosphere, the rainforest planet was abundant in tall trees that provided a canopy over much of the planet, and lush, green underbrush. Right as they stepped outside of the jumper, a mammoth blue butterfly flew right across their path, and landed on a branch of a nearby tree. The butterfly was beautiful, and Teyla stopped to admire it for a moment, its wings were powder blue with pink lining the edges of its wings, and it was a hundred times bigger than any butterfly she had seen in pictures.

Ronon was in front, hacking a pathway through the lush, green underbrush, for his friends to make their way safely to the ancient ruins. Rodney was checking his tablet, directing them where they needed to go.

"Ouch…" John yelled, while he jumped back from whatever had attacked him.

Ronon stopped hacking through the insanely tall underbrush, and turned towards his friend, ready to fight.

"What is it, Colonel…?" Teyla asked.

"It...It's nothing...something just bit me…" John said, a little embarrassed that he had yelled out over such a little thing...but whatever had bitten him...it stung.

…..

"The ruins should be just over this ridge…" Rodney assured his team members.

"Are you sure…?" Ronon asked, taking his large knife and hacking down a large green plant with a purple flower.

"Yes, I'm sure…" Rodney answered, clearly annoyed by the doubting tone of the question by the Sutedan.

"It's just...we have been walking for an awfully long time, Rodney…" Teyla chimed in.

"Oh no, not you too, Teyla...look I know where I'm going…" Rodney assured his doubting teammates.

"There, there, I told you…" Rodney all but cheered, when his team came to the top of the ridge, and looked down to see stone ruins, standing among a circle of green, leafy trees.

The ruins were beautiful, and Teyla stopped for a moment to take in the sight.

McKay was looking at his tablet, "There...the same energy reading, it's definitely coming from the ruins." McKay explained, looking up from his tablet.

"Happy hunting…" John said, as he sat down, his back against a fallen tree stump.

"Aren't...aren't you coming…?" Rodney asked, looking mildly concerned, Sheppard always jumped at the chance to explore ancient labs, ancient ruins with him, okay, maybe not always jump, and sometimes he did have to practically force John to go with him…

"John, are you okay…?" Rodney asked, remembering that shortly after they had started on this journey, John had said something had bitten him.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired, think I'll sit this one out…"

"Don't worry, I'll go with you," Ronon said, clapping Rodney on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Rodney exclaimed, as he rubbed his shoulder.

"I will stay out here with the Colonel," Teyla told Rodney.

"Okay, I'll tell you if I find anything cool," Rodney said, looking back at Sheppard, before he followed Ronon.

…..

Teyla was growing concerned about Colonel Sheppard with each passing moment, she had felt the Colonel's forehead, and he seemed to have a fever.

Soon it became clear that they needed to get Colonel Sheppard back to Atlantis and to the infirmary.

"Rodney, come in, are you nearly finished…?" Teyla asked, her voice hushed, so that Colonel Sheppard would not hear her.

Rodney clicked on his comms, "Umm...yeah, Teyla, we just found the central console, and I plugged my tablet into it...it's downloading all of the information right now." Rodney explained.

"Okay...well, I suggest that you hurry because Colonel Sheppard has a fever that has gone up several degrees since we arrived, I suggest we get him back to Atlantis as soon as possible."

Rodney heard the concern in Teyla's voice, and quite frankly he was worried about John as well...so as soon as the download was complete, Rodney unplugged his tablet and told Ronon they could go, he would just have to come back later to explore the ruins, hopefully with John, and at least he had all of this information that he could pour over, back in Atlantis.

Rodney heard Teyla's panicked voice, even before he and Ronon emerged from the ruins.

"Wake up, John, please...wake up," Teyla yelled, as she gently shook John's shoulder, but to no avail, the Colonel would not wake up.

"Teyla, what...what happened…?" Rodney asked, running up behind her.

"I don't know, I was going to get some water from the nearby stream, I only turned away for a moment, but then I heard a noise, and when I looked back, John was having a seizure, and now he will not wake up." Teyla explained.

…..

The jumper came through the gate, and landed in the jumper bay, where Dr. Keller and her medical team were waiting for Colonel Sheppards' team.

Ronon carried John out of the jumper.

"How long has he been unresponsive?" Dr. Keller asked.

Teyla quickly answered, "He fell unconscious while we were still on the planet, and has not woken up since, he had a severely high fever, which caused him to have a seizure." Teyla explained to Dr. Keller.

"Okay, lets get him to the infirmary, quickly...Teyla, did anything happen on the planet that could have caused this?" Dr. Keller asked.

"He did say that something had bitten him," Teyla answered.

…..

Rodney was sitting in front of his computer, looking over the information he had downloaded from the ancient ruins.

"Rodney…have you found anything…?" Teyla asked, as she entered Rodney's lab.

"Te...Teyla, weren't...weren't you in the infirmary with Sheppard…did...did something happen, how...how is he?" Rodney asked.

Teyla looked away for a moment, and dread flooded Rodney.

"Jennifer was able to bring John's fever down...he still has not woken up," Teyla told Rodney.

Rodney turned away from Teyla, and began staring at his computer again.

"Have you found anything?" Teyla asked, again, coming up behind her friend, and placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Well, apparently the Ancients were studying the rare animal life on the rainforest planet…" Rodney told Teyla, without turning around to face her.

"Well, the butterflies were beautiful...I do not blame the Ancients for wanting to learn more about them…" Teyla said, remembering the beautiful blue butterfly she saw.

"But...then why did we not see more animals…?" Teyla wondered.

"Most of the animal life went extinct, and it looks like the Ancients abandoned the planet soon after they arrived…"

"Why would they do that…?" Teyla asked.

…..

"Poison...there is a very poisonous snake, which is only found on the rainforest planet, it seems that the Ancients who went there were bitten, and...umm…most of them died within a day," Rodney explained, as he looked over at John, who was still lying unconscious.

"There has to be something we can do…?" Teyla asked, looking at Jennifer.

"I'm doing everything I can think of, but what we really need is the antidote," Dr. Keller said.

…..


End file.
